Under the combined assault of the four types of spirit beasts, Anyuan City was utterly reduced to ruins.
Only a small number of mortals managed to break through the beast horde and escape under the cover of several Body Tempering practitioners. The majority perished within the swarm.
The beast horde only rampaged through Anyuan City for three or four days before withdrawing.
The beast tide thus officially came to an end.
Although only a small city had suffered this catastrophic fate, such an event was not a common occurrence after the establishment of the Three Realms by humanity. Ultimately, it drew the attention of the high-level cultivators of Tianyuan City, who dispatched a large contingent to investigate the specific reasons for the city wall breach by the beast horde.
Of course, this is a matter for later.
Two days after the beast horde’s withdrawal, spiritual light flashed on the horizon, and several more cultivators descended from the sky. Shortly after, they arrived at the massive gap in the city wall where Anyuan City had been breached that day.
The light faded, revealing three male and female cultivators hovering in the air. They were none other than the three cultivators from the Golden Jade Sect, with the brocade-robed, surnamed Qin man leading them.
The trio’s gazes swept the area below, as if searching for something.
“That man is most likely already dead. Senior Brother, you clearly saw the power of the Leopard Avian Beasts’ coordinated strike that day. Why do you still believe there’s a chance this person survived?” Among the young pair, the man couldn’t help but ask the brocade-robed man after scanning the ruins for a moment.
“You don’t understand, Junior Brother. That Indestructible Diamond Body technique is completely different from ordinary Body Tempering methods. At the third layer, it allows a mortal to cleanse their marrow and meridians. If they circulate the technique at full power, their body can withstand the full-force strike of a low-grade spirit artifact. Although the combined strike of the Leopard Avian Beasts was terrifyingly powerful, if this person had fully activated the technique beforehand, while severe injury would be unavoidable, his chances of survival would still be quite significant. And the task we are about to undertake absolutely requires the assistance of a durable mortal like this. If we hadn’t been too far away that day to intervene in time, I would have definitely saved this person.” The brocade-robed man shook his head, his expression extremely gloomy.
Hearing his senior brother’s words, the young male cultivator still harbored some doubts but didn’t press further. Instead, the pretty young woman spoke, her eyes flashing:
“Even if that person somehow survived, this place has been ravaged by the beast horde for so long. He’s probably already fallen prey to the beasts. How could he possibly still be alive?”
“That is also a possibility! Isn’t that why I came here, clinging to that one slender hope? Suitable personnel are truly hard to find. I’ll just have to expend some spiritual sense to search the vicinity.” At her words, the corner of the brocade-robed man’s mouth twitched into a bitter smile.
“Oh? I’m curious, what task does Master Qin need Han Li for, to make him think of me so fondly?”
A calm voice suddenly emanated from the pile of shattered rocks below, followed by a tremendous “boom” as stone fragments flew in all directions. Two figures, one tall and one short, appeared amidst the settling dust.
“Han Li!” The three in the air were startled first, then the brocade-robed man called out joyfully.
The taller figure below was indeed Han Li, missing for several days. The shorter one was a young girl, around four or five years old. Although her clothes were somewhat dirty, their original exquisite and luxurious nature was still discernible.
The girl’s face was fair and tender, exceptionally cute, but her large, dark eyes held a look of fear. Her small hands clung tightly to the back of Han Li’s robe, unwilling to leave his side even a step.
“Brother Han is safe, that puts my mind at ease. I’ve been constantly concerned about Brother Han’s safety and came especially to offer rescue. But who is this little one?” The surnamed Qin man said with a full-faced smile, simultaneously gesturing to the other two as they slowly descended.
“Who she is, I’m not entirely clear myself. When the city fell that day, she and several Body Tempering practitioners fled to this area and were surrounded by a pack of wolf beasts. The others were all killed. Only this little girl was so young, I couldn’t bear it and saved her.” Han Li glanced back at the trailing girl and said with some helplessness.
Although he had taken the Mist-Formed Avian Beast’s strike head-on that day, because he had shattered the city wall beforehand and fallen first, he had only absorbed a portion of the attack. Moreover, protected by the fourth layer of his Indestructible Diamond Body, as expected, he had only sustained minor injuries.
However, due to the tremendous pressure from that strike, his Indestructible Diamond Body, which had been stalled at the fourth layer bottleneck, had unexpectedly broken through.
Recall that back in the Human Realm, the reason he couldn’t advance beyond the fourth layer was precisely this bottleneck.
Now, all he needed was half a year of quiet, diligent cultivation to truly advance to the fifth layer.
So he had simply hidden beneath the rubble, intending to secretly consolidate this unexpected breakthrough first. It was then that he encountered the little girl and her group, and in a moment of compassion, intervened to save her.
But the events that followed weren’t as simple as he described.
To avoid revealing his hiding spot, he had swiftly killed over a hundred beasts in the immediate vicinity, leaving none alive, before feeling safe enough to bring the girl back under the rubble pile. This had required quite some effort.
Furthermore, if it weren’t for this little girl being such a burden, he could have slipped away days ago. After all, alone, he was fairly confident he could evade the notice of the beast horde. But bringing along such a tiny child made things vastly more complicated.
The girl’s aura was like a beacon fire in the night—impossible to conceal.
Remaining hidden beneath the rubble until the beast horde left seemed like the better option. After all, the overwhelming mortal presence within this human city was sufficient to mask all traces of the girl.
Today, feeling the time was about right and preparing to emerge, he happened to encounter the arrival of the three from the Golden Jade Sect. With his extraordinary hearing, he had listened to their conversation crystal clear.
A thought struck him, and he burst forth from the stone pile, giving the brocade-robed man and his companions quite a scare.